


A Winter Day

by traptrixnepenthes



Category: Future Card Buddyfight
Genre: M/M, was possessed by a demon back in october to write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22305916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traptrixnepenthes/pseuds/traptrixnepenthes
Summary: i don't know what to say about this other than it's a birthday fic for kyoya and i feel horrible, unshakeable guilt for not also producing a birthday fic for rougaset post x2. do you ever think about how in the official short stories that have translated by some kind and mysterious someone kyoya uses purgatory knights during the ace era? i do. here's a theory
Relationships: Gaen Kyouya/Ryuuenji Tasuku
Kudos: 16





	A Winter Day

January 18th was just another day in a long series of days, and Kyoya would have preferred to keep it like that. In fact he’d been so dedicated to maintaining the idea that it was just another day like any other that he’d told his secretary not to inform him of any calls trying to wish him a happy birthday, as he knew people would. It was a simple enough gesture from his competitors or anyone else who wanted his money or favor--it was almost inspiring how all of them did the pettiest things to try and get into his good graces while dragging his name through the mud the rest of the time.

The sky outside his office windows was a dismal grey, and one drawback to having such a view of the cityscape was that windows hardly retained heat--the winter chill had seeped into his office a few months ago, and none of his efforts to get rid of it had worked. For someone who already layered sweaters during the spring and summer months, winter was downright agonizing, and that was despite the two space heaters he had running as high as they could without them overheating. This tower was another thing he’d inherited from his parents, and as he did every winter, he found himself wishing that it had been better insulated.

The day passed like any other, albeit with a few less interruptions. The people who contacted his personal number to congratulate him on surviving another year were few, and he preferred that. He got a seven paragraph message from Suzuha detailing exactly how much she appreciated him, going so far as to cite details from childhood, along with a promise to get his gift to him as soon as possible--this was pretty much what he’d expected from her. Some things never changed, and Suzuha was one of them. There were a few other messages here and there from people who had been friends with his parents, but nothing from Sofia or Rouga. That, too, was something he expected. Maybe he should’ve contacted Rouga to wish  _ him _ a happy birthday, but the idea of it left a bad taste in his mouth. Maybe because he was the one who had decided that Rouga was reborn the day they first met.

Kyoya pushed that line of thought from his mind, and instead mused on how there  _ was _ someone he’d been expecting something from, but they hadn’t contacted him yet. He thought on that expectation of his for a long moment, scrolling through this document he was being expected to confirm without paying attention to the text on his screen, and decided that he would be disappointed if he didn’t hear anything from them.

It had been almost six months now since Azi Dahaka had gone back to sleep, and in a world without him, Kyoya had come to face that...not everything  _ was _ in his control. That he could sit here wondering if something would or wouldn’t happen was a new experience. Again, he could’ve just contacted them directly, but he decided not to--he wanted to see what they would do.

A sharp sound from behind him snapped him out of his thoughts, and Kyoya turned to see if a bird had just flown into his window or something--but instead, floating outside his 30th floor office was Ryuuenji Tasuku, bundled up in a heavy coat and scarf, looking like he’d flown here right after school had finished. Tasuku waved at him and pointed at the latch keeping the window closed, and Kyoya marveled for a moment about how direct he was before unlatching the window and opening it for him. Tasuku flew in on those green-flame skates he got from Jack, the January chill coming with him, and Kyoya closed the window again as soon as Tasuku had gotten himself inside. “You know,” he said, still not sure how he was supposed to greet Tasuku now and choosing to avoid it entirely, “this is technically breaking the rules. Visitors are supposed to check in at the front desk.”

“I’m just stopping in for a little bit before my shift. Jeez, why is it so hot in here?” Tasuku unwound the scarf from around his neck and ditched his heavy overcoat, dumping them on one of the chairs in front of Kyoya’s desk.

“On the contrary, it’s just very cold outside.”

Tasuku looked from the space heaters back to Kyoya, one eyebrow raised, but didn’t say anything. Instead he just stood there for a few long moments, staring at Kyoya and awkwardly scuffing his foot as if he didn’t know what he was supposed to do now.

“Did you come here for something in particular?”

“Uh, yes.” Tasuku’s cheeks were flushed, but maybe that was just from the cold outside. “I...brought you something.” He dug through his schoolbag and then pulled out a small box, wrapped neatly in red paper, tied by a purple ribbon. Even after having apparently survived the day in his bag, none of it was torn or out of place. “It’s not much, but… Happy birthday, Kyoya. I wasn’t really sure what to get you that you couldn’t just get yourself so I asked Stella to help me pick it out.”

Kyoya took the box--it was very light, and if not for how impolite it would’ve been he would’ve shaken it a bit just to try and get a better idea of what was inside of it. There was a part of him--a very large part, in fact--that wanted to rip it open right then and there and find out exactly what Tasuku had given him, but he hesitated. Tasuku was still staring at him, and it would’ve been embarrassing to make it so obvious that he’d been hoping for a gift from him. Instead, he just smiled at Tasuku, the most genuine smile he could, and said, “Thank you.”

Tasuku averted his eyes and went to adjust his scarf, only to have his fingers meet empty air. “You’re welcome.”

There was another stretch of awkward silence between them. Neither of them were especially talkative people when it really came down to it, but there was more Kyoya wanted to say to him. He just wasn’t quite sure how to do it.

His position as his parents’ child, and later as the CEO of the Gaen Financial Group, had meant that a lot of his interactions with other people had to be done carefully. Wording and insinuations and making sure he didn’t say the wrong thing to the wrong person meant that when it came to talking to someone normally, he still ran through as many ways as he could to say the right thing the right way. He’d effectively been raised to live his whole life behind a delicately crafted mask, and it hadn’t been until recently--just six months ago--that he’d started trying to take that mask off. Tasuku was trying to do the same thing, so he also had to make an effort, right?

So he said, catching Tasuku’s gaze, “Why not skip your shift and stay here with me for a while?”

Tasuku reacted pretty much exactly how Kyoya had expected--completely thrown off. While he pulled himself back together from that suggestion, Kyoya took the moment to set the gift box on his desk and then sit himself on the edge of it, exactly the way he knew his secretary hated. “Well? You have to make your decision soon, right?”

“I--I can’t,” Tasuku said finally, looking down at his shoes. “It’d look really bad on my record if I called out so suddenly, and I can’t just abandon my duty. It’s not that I mind staying with you, it’s just--”

Kyoya laughed, cutting him off in the middle. That, too, was the response he’d expected. But just because it was pointless in asking didn’t mean there wasn’t a reason to ask in the first place, and watching Tasuku’s reactions to him was always worthwhile. “That kind of devotion you have is admirable.”

“It’s not, really…”

“Oh, but it is.” Kyoya could either advance this topic further, or let silence fall and fester between them again. But he wanted to keep talking to Tasuku, just for a little while. “It’s part of why I’ve had a crush on you since I was twelve.”

This time, Tasuku’s reaction was more than Kyoya expected. His whole face was bright red, and he looked distinctly like a fish as he opened his closed his mouth, trying to get words out, until he finally managed, “You  _ what?! _ ”

“Is it really that surprising? I would’ve thought someone like you got confessions like that all the time.”

“That’s beside the point!”

“Just like every other kid, I’ve admired you since the first time I saw you on a TV screen. It was inspiring to see someone just like me fighting the good fight. You’ve mentioned before...during our original time together...that you felt so helpless after the Disaster that you wanted to be someone who could protect others, and as I’m sure you know, you inspired others to do the same.” By now, Tasuku had calmed back down, and was listening to Kyoya’s words with the slightest of frowns on his face. “I was one of those people.”

“...There wasn’t anything to admire about that. I was just pushing myself harder than I ever should have.” Tasuku smiled, almost apologetically. “I still am. I just don’t know how to let myself relax.”

Both of them were pushing themselves too hard. They were both too young to be in the positions they were, but if the adults weren’t going to step up, then they had to. They both knew this, and it was part of what drew them together in the first place. “That didn’t matter to me then. All I knew was that you were...a hero. Like I wanted to be.”

Now, Tasuku just listened silently. Something that looked like guilt was in his eyes. “I’d already decided even before then that I wanted to change the world. Unlike me, though, you’d already started doing your part to make things better, and even back then, I was certain that if I could somehow tell you about my plans, you’d approve of them. Maybe you’d even help me.” Kyoya tilted his head a little, examining Tasuku’s expression. Yes, he definitely looked like he felt guilty for something here. “So there was always a part of my plans that you fit into. It all came from a childish hope that you’d agree that I was doing the right thing. You, the hero of heroes.”

Again, silence stretched, and in another childish hope Kyoya hoped that this conversation wouldn’t make Tasuku take away the gift he’d given. “...And I did agree with you,” he said instead. “After seeing so much corruption in the world, I’d lost hope. The only way to make this world a kind and wonderful place again was to destroy it and then rebuild it from the ground up.”

Kyoya laughed, but there was no humor in it this time. “Isn’t it amusing? Two people who were seen as heroes, and instead we chose to be villains.” He sighed. “But I was wrong. There was so much else I could’ve been doing instead of that stupid, short-sighted goal, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to move past that. I could live my whole life trying to make amends for it and for the people I hurt in the process, and I don’t think it’ll ever fix things.”

“...Why are you telling me all of this?”

“I guess...because I still want your approval. Not that there’s really anything about me to approve of.”

Tasuku was silent again, and he started digging through his bag. “There’s this...friend I have,” he said as he rifled through his things, “but I think you already know him. I think the two of you could talk about a lot of things together.”

“Oh?”

Tasuku pulled a deckbox out of his bag--just a cheap plastic one, not his proper Core--and then pulled a single card out of it. Kyoya recognized it, of course--he’d given that card to Tasuku in the first place. “Purgatory Knights Liberator, Orcus Sword Dragon.”

It was a fair enough comparison. The Purgatory Knights were originally knights of Dragon World, and they had valiantly shut themselves off from their homeland in an effort to protect it. And in the process, they’d done terrible things that they now regretted, even if it was in the name of protecting their world. It’d been a fitting pick for Tasuku back when they’d first met, and now, it suited Kyoya just as well.

“When you first gave me Demios--or I guess I should call him Orcus now--you described him as someone who struck down allies in the name of power. But he’s changed, and so have you.” Kyoya stared at the card, and at its borders that symbolized how it was part of Dragon World, but just as much a part of Darkness Dragon World, the evil that they had fought against. “Now, he gathers the hopes of his allies in his heart, and fights on with them always at his side. That’s what you’re trying to do too, right?”

Kyoya mulled it over silently, not sure how to respond. If he _ could _ respond. Was he allowed to agree with an assessment like that? “You just keep that deck on you?”

“I...guess so.” He looked at the card again. “It’s something like a memento of you, so once it found its way into my bag, I never bothered taking it out.”

As he always did, Kyoya marveled at how Tasuku could switch so easily from cagey and evasive to simple and straightforward. Although, he had to admit, he was doing much the same thing. “And now you’re giving it back to me? I appreciate the gesture, but..” On paper and in official records, Azi Dahaka was still Kyoya’s Buddy, but they were never going to fight together again, not really. In something like a fit of loneliness Kyoya’d had his labs create the SYS series, mockups of his Buddy that at the very least still looked like him, but he’d tucked them away too. Azi Dahaka had been part of him, his other half, and there was nothing in this or any other world that could replace him. “I’m really not in the market for a new Buddy right now.”

“Well, I’m  _ not _ giving him to you. He’s going to be my second Buddy once we can finish all the paperwork. We’re actually going through the official routes this time, and that means a certain stubborn  _ someone _ needs to actually consent to me having a second one.” Despite the irritated words, Tasuku’s tone was fond. Kyoya wondered if he sounded the same way when talking about Azi Dahaka. “But until Jack decides to let me add him to our family, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind staying in your care for a while. He told me once that he likes looking after wayward knights.”

“I’m fairly certain I’m the exact opposite of what he means by a knight.”

“If he agreed with you, he would’ve said something by now.” Tasuku tucked the card back into the deckbox, and placed it on Kyoya’s desk. “He can always come back home if anything goes wrong.”

Kyoya eyed the deck, making no move to touch it. It was true that having someone like Demios--or rather, Orcus--around would probably make things at least a bit easier on him. He wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but he was dealing with the loneliness rather badly. Orcus was, admittedly, a good choice; he already knew Kyoya, knew what his deal was, and could never be more than just a temporary partner for him.

Maybe Tasuku knew that already, and that was where the offer came from. After all, he’d already lost his Buddy before. “Thank you,” Kyoya said, and Tasuku smiled. That had been the right thing to say.

Suddenly an alarm went off--a few piercing tones that were punctuated by Tasuku groaning. “That means I’m late. Sorry, I need to get going, and--” Tasuku pulled his coat back on and sloppily wound his scarf back around his neck, and Kyoya resisted the urge to adjust them. Instead he just opened the window back up for him, letting the cold wind chill him down to the bone.

Tasuku made to jump out the window--Kyoya knew he’d be safe as long as he could fly, but it was still a bit uncomfortable to see--and then turned to look at him again. “About what you said earlier… If I don’t get out too late, I could come see you again tonight.”

Again, Kyoya couldn’t tell if the flush on Tasuku’s cheeks was just from the cold air or not. “Sounds good to me.”

Tasuku smiled, and Kyoya smiled back. “I’ll see you later, then.”

“Be safe at work.”

And with that, Tasuku launched himself back into the cold sky, and his green skates once again caught him instead of letting him fall thirty stories down. Kyoya watched the green flames trail through the sky until he couldn’t make Tasuku out anymore, and then he closed the window with his freezing hands and sat back down at his desk.

Tasuku had given him three presents today, and Kyoya wasn’t sure which he liked best between the deck, whatever was in the box, and the simple act of remembering his birthday at all. He’d have to do something just as spectacular for Tasuku’s birthday when it came in a few months’ time, and luckily, he had those months to plan for it. He sat there and pondered what would make a good gift while slowly moving his fingers, waiting for feeling to come back to them, but of course just a few minutes wasn’t enough to come up with anything conclusive. He’d probably object to any extravagant displays of money, so what was left?

The answer was probably in that box. Kyoya snapped the ribbon tied around it and carefully opened the wrapping, trying not to tear it, and pulled out a small white box with a lid. It looked like a jewelry box of some sort, and he opened it, curious to see what Tasuku could’ve chosen for him--and sitting inside was a silver cross-shaped pendant, not all that dissimilar from the one that Kyoya already wore. It was a bit smaller, with leaflike engravings around the edges, and it certainly wasn’t as beat-up and old looking.

Kyoya’s pendant had been one of the last gifts he’d gotten from his parents before...a series of events had happened that had completely shattered his faith in adults and what they could do for the world. Why he’d kept it, he didn’t really know, since just sentimental value didn’t mean much to him, but after five years and the loss of Azi Dahaka and his grand plan, it was the only thing that still tied him to who he’d been before the Disaster. It was just a pendant, but now that he had a replacement, it felt like so much more than just a little charm.

He unclasped the chain and slid his old pendant off and replaced it with the one from Tasuku. From a distance, it wouldn’t look like anything had changed, which Kyoya was perfectly fine with. It wasn’t like anyone else needed to know about this, anyways. There were a lot of things that had changed about him recently that most people didn’t know about, and keeping things that way would probably be in his favor.

He should’ve gotten back to work, but instead he turned his attention to the deckbox Tasuku had given him. If Orcus objected to being handed off to him, he hadn’t made any sign of it.

“You know,” he said aloud to his empty office, “the day I first met Azi Dahaka face to face was on this date too. It was just pure coincidence that the excavations had gotten that far on my birthday, but it still felt like it meant something. And now here we are again, with an auspicious meeting happening by chance on today, January 18th.”

Orcus didn’t respond. Maybe he’d just been asleep for their whole conversation--he  _ was _ quite an old dragon, after all.

Kyoya simply smiled and put a hand to his new pendant, rubbing his fingers over the engravings. He could wait til later to try talking to Orcus again. They had plans for that evening, after all.


End file.
